So once again the neoFascists are trying to conceal Der Trumper's crimes by attacking those who uncover the crimes.

The depth of depravity shown by the Republican base is exceeded only by the depravity of the leaders of the Republican Party. The only "Lincoln" still in favor within the NRAGOP is George Lincoln Rockwell.

The federal judge who presided over former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s case last year before mysteriously being recused had a personal relationship with anti-Trump FBI official Peter Strzok, according to text mesages obtained and reviewed by Fox News.

The revelations about U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras are found in a new batch of text messages between Strzok and his FBI paramour, Lisa Page.

Contreras was appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in 2016, a topic of conversation between Strzok and Page.

“Rudy is on the FISC! Did you know that?” Page texted Strzok on July 25, 2016. “Just appointed two months ago.”

“I did," Strzok replied. "We talked about it before and after. I need to get together with him.”

Strzok investigated matters of counterintelligence at the FBI, which typically went through the FISC.

Texts reflect Page asking why Strzok hadn’t told her about Contreras being on the FISC. Strzok said he thought he had shared the information.

In the texts, Strzok mentioned "a graduation party" he and Contreras both recently attended.

He also texted about the important of "being circumspect in talking to him in terms of not placing him into a situation where he’d have to recuse himself.”

Page replied that she couldn’t “imagine either one of you could talk about anything in detail meaningful enough to warrant recusal.”

Page added: “Standards for recusal are quite high. I just don’t think this poses an actual conflict. And he doesn’t know what you do?”

Strzok replied: “Generally he does know what I do. Not the level or scope or area. But he’s super thoughtful and rigorous about ethics and conflicts.”

Flynn pleaded guilty before Contreras in December 2017 to making false statements to the FBI as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidental campaign and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates.

Strzok, who briefly served on the special counsel’s team before being reassigned to the FBI’s human resources division, oversaw the bureau's interviews with Flynn. That means he was likely one of the FBI officials involved in the conversations where Flynn is accused of making a false statement about his communications with Russians.

Days after Flynn’s guilty plea, Contreras was recused from the case, replaced by Judge Emmet Sullivan. No explanation for the recusal has been given up to this point. But experts think the relationship with Strzok may provide that missing piece of the puzzle.

“That explains why he recused himself,” former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova told Fox News on Friday. “He knew he was a friend of Strzok’s when the case came to him. He should allow Flynn to withdraw the guilty plea.”

Contreras “never should have taken the case,” diGenova told Fox News. He noted the timing of Contreras' recusal, suggesting he made the move just as the Strzok-Page texts surfaced in the press.

Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1.

Reports began to surface of Strzok sending anti-Trump texts to Page on Dec. 2. Contreras recused himself from the case on Dec. 7.

Contreras violated the canons of judicial ethics,” diGenova said. “If he knew Strzok was in charge of espionage, he never should have even gotten near it.”

New Text Msgs Reveal FBI Agent was Friends with Judge in Flynn Case

Newly redacted text messages discovered by congressional investigators reveal that an embattled FBI agent at the center of the Russia investigation controversy was close friends with a District of Columbia judge who recused himself from the criminal case over former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, congressional members said, and text documents show.

The never before seen text messages, which were a part of the texts given to Congress by the Department of Justice, show that FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his paramour FBI attorney Lisa Page discussed Strzok’s relationship with U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras, who presided over a Dec. 1, 2017, hearing where former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Strzok was removed from Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office last year after anti-Trump text messages between him and his FBI agent lover were discovered by the DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz. But on Dec. 7, without warning, Judge Rudolph Contreras was removed as the presiding judge on Flynn’s case. Little information was given at the time as to why Contreras was removed.

“We’re asking the department of justice and the FBI to give us the documents we need to do proper oversight…”

Mark Meadows (R-NC)

DOJ officials did not immediately respond for comment.

In a text message chain from Page to Strzok on July 25, 2016, she writes, “Rudy is on the FISC!

Did you know that? Just appointed two months ago.”

At that point, the pair continues to discuss other issues but comes back to Contreras,

“I did. We talked about it before and after. I need to get together with him.” Then later Strzok appears to return to his discussion about Contreras.

Strzok/Page July texts

Page: “Thought of it because you had to Google FISC judges and him there. I’m telling you.”

Strzok: “….She brought up a good point about being circumspect in talking to him in terms of not placing him into a situation where he’d have to recuse himself.”

Page: “I can’t imagine you either one of you could talk about anything in detail meaningful enough to warrant recusal.” Page then goes back to discussing a different issue saying, “Anyway, maybe you meant to, but didn’t.’

Strzok: “Really? Rudy. I’m in charge of espionage for the FBI. Any espionage FISA comes before him, what should he do? Given his friend oversees them?”

Page: “Standards for recusal are quite high. I just don’t think this poses an actual conflict. And he doesn’t know what you do?”

Strzok: “Generally he does know what I do. Not the level or scope or area but he’s super thoughtful and rigorous about ethics and conflicts. (redacted) suggested a social setting with others would probably be better than a one on one meeting. I’m sorry, I’m just going to have to invite you to that cocktail party. Of course, you’ll be there. Have to come up with some other work people cover for action.”

Page: “Why more? Six is a perfectly fine dinner party.”

Investigators working with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mark Meadows, both with the House Oversight Committee, discovered the text messages during their ongoing investigation into the FBI’s handling of the alleged Trump-Russia collusion investigation, the Congressional members told this reporter.

Under rules established by DOJ officials, congressional investigators could only review the less-redacted version of the pairs’ text messages at DOJ headquarters and only the highly redacted version of the texts was allowed to be removed during the ongoing process, they said. Of the 1.2 million documents collected by Horowitz’s team, the House Oversight Committee has only received 3,162 “unique documents,” they added.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)

“Why did Contreras recuse himself?” said Jordan. “Text messages show he had a relationship with Strzok… Why did the DOJ make it difficult for us to get the information? To me, those are the two fundamental questions. We don’t know that answers to either one of those ”

Jordan noted that the text messages provide some context but that some of the communications are not completely clear. He added what is “clear is that the back and forth exchange shows that Strzok and (Contreras) were friends. But we don’t know if the discussion regarding recusal has anything to do with Russia or if they were referring to another case. What we do know is that Contreras recused himself after the guilty plea but we still don’t know why?”

Meadows added that a “recusal for a judge is a very high bar.”

“I think from my standpoint we’re asking the department of justice and the FBI to give us the documents we need to do proper oversight,” said Meadows. “Failing to be able to be able to provide Congress with those documents in an expeditious manner would certainly strengthen the case for a special prosecutor.”

The DOJ’s failure to be forthright with the information makes it extremely difficult for Congress to conduct oversight, he added.

“The only thing we would not have access to is grand jury material and some classified documents,” said Meadows. “There is no reason why we cannot get the same documents the Inspector General has.”